In most land-based drilling operations, such as when drilling for oil and gas on land, it is necessary to transport a drilling rig to the site where the drilling operations will take place. Typically, these drilling rigs are very large and, thus, must be transported to the drilling site in several pieces. These rigs are transported in pieces that comprise the three main sections of a drilling rig: the substructure, the equipment floor, and the mast. Depending on the size of the drilling rig, the substructure, the equipment floor, and the mast may each be further broken down into multiple pieces for ease of transportation.
The equipment floor of the drilling rig is comprised of several segments, all of which, when assembled together, provide the platform or the “floor” for the drilling equipment and the mast that will be used in the drilling operations. The equipment floor may be constructed in a variety of ways, but is typically formed by using I-beams or box girders for the sides and interconnecting the sides with spreaders or other cross members. The equipment floor can, however, be constructed in any desired manner to achieve the necessary structural integrity and to provide the necessary support for the equipment used.
It has become the custom to use an equipment floor that is elevated above ground level in order to provide clearance for relatively tall blow-out prevention apparatus and other wellhead equipment used in drilling oil and gas wells. One embodiment of such an elevated-floor drilling rig structure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,795 to Sorokan.
If an elevated equipment floor is used, the equipment floor is often connected to a collapsible elevating frame that, when assembled, can be raised—thereby raising the equipment floor above the ground. The collapsible elevating frame is part of the substructure and, like the equipment floor, this collapsible elevating frame is comprised of several pieces that must be transported to the drilling site.
Once the pieces of the drilling rig reach the site, the complete drilling rig must be reassembled so that drilling operations can commence. Assembling the drilling rig components on site, however, has proven to be a relatively complex and time consuming process. In many of the prior art drilling rig structures, the equipment floor and the substructure must be constructed and connected together in, essentially, a piece-by-piece operation.
Further, after assembling the various pieces of the equipment floor and the substructure, prior art drilling rig structures require drilling operators to “pin” the equipment floor and the substructure together using large pins that are capable of handling the significant forces and stresses that are imposed on the pinned connections. The process of pinning the equipment floor to the substructure requires the rig personnel to align pin holes in the sides of the equipment floor with pin holes in the sides of the substructure. Once the pin holes are aligned, it is necessary for one person to hold the pin in place while another person drives the pin through the pin holes with a sledge hammer or other device, thereby forming a connection between the equipment floor and the substructure. This process is repeated until all the pins connecting the equipment floor and the substructure are driven in place. Given the fact that the equipment floor and the substructure typically require in excess of twenty (20) pins to connect them together, the process of pinning these components together takes a significant amount of time. Ultimately, the significant amount of time required to assemble the drilling rig components increases the expense of using such a rig.
Moreover, the process of pinning these components together can be dangerous for the rig personnel performing such task. Specifically, the task of holding the pin connectors in place as they are driven through the pin holes with a sledge hammer or other device poses a significant risk of injury to the rig personnel performing such task.
Accordingly, what is needed is a structural connector capable of handling the significant forces and stresses required to hold the elements of the drilling rig together while at the same time allowing for easier connection and shorter assembly time. It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for creating a structural connector capable of handling significant forces and stresses while providing for easy and efficient connection of structural components. Those and other objectives will become apparent to those of skill in the art from a review of the specification below.